Cleaning and Maintenance

To protect your floor from furniture scratches we recommend you attach protective pads to the base of all furniture. A wide range of protective pads are available from hardware stores. (We have found Bunnings to have the best selection.) Care must be taken when moving furniture.

Remove all spills and any excess moisture immediately.

We strongly recommend that you do not use solvent-based products or steam cleaners on our wooden floors.

We recommend using a specialised cleaning mop that works with a floor cleaning fluid, particular to your coating type – see below. Should you prefer to use an alternative mop (mirofibre mops work best) please ensure that you keep the amount of water/specialised cleaning product used to a minimum and apply this with the use of a spray bottle.

Pallmann's Hardwood Floor Cleaning Kit This has been specifically designed for cleaning all types of polyurethane finished hardwood floors and contains:

A sturdy mop with a four piece quick-connect handle and a plastic mop base with hook and loop feature

A microfibre cleaning pad

A microfibre dusting pad

Pallmann's residue-free cleaner

It is available from Gilt Edge, 47 Carlyle Street in Sydenham, Christchurch - 03 379 7067.

OIL FINISHED FLOORS Once your floor is completed you will be supplied with a cleaning kit that is to be used with your particular oil finish. Follow the instructions that come with it. Should you be unsure about its use, please contact our office, as it is important that oiled floors are cared for correctly.

Generally for oiled floors, the following is required:

Remove dirt with a soft broom or a vacuum cleaner (using the soft setting)

Then, using a microfibre mop and the appropriate cleaning product for your type of oil, clean the floor. The amount of liquid used for mopping must be kept to a minimum, (the mop needs to be damp rather than wet) and applying the cleaning product through a spray bottle is recommended. Some of the cleaning products we recommend also nourish your timber.

Regular maintenance care, to top up the oil in your timber, is also necessary. This can be applied to the whole floor or specifically to high wear areas (such as through doorways and in front of kitchen sinks) when they begin to look dehydrated. When the floor is looking greyish or tired, clean the floor as above and allow it to dry, then apply oil as directed by the oil manufacturer. It will need to be the same type of oil as originally applied to your floor. It is difficult to estimate how frequently this will need to be done as it depends on the amount of floor use. We would recommend, in residential areas, that it be re-oiled once a year but more regularly in commercial situations where there is heavier foot traffic. Larger areas can be maintained mechanically.

FLOODS If the timber floor is inadvertently flooded, damage can be minimised by removing the surplus water as fast as possible and gradually adding extra atmospheric heating (definitely do not turn up the underfloor heating, however). Short-term use of dehumidifiers and improved air circulation can also help to remove the moisture that may have got between the boards or underneath the boards. Do whatever is possible to remove the water quickly before the timber has time to absorb and hold too much moisture. A well installed floor can recover from flood damage, to a large degree, if prompt action is taken.

HEATING All freestanding heaters, radiators, heat pumps, underfloor heating etc. affect the temperature of the floor and need to be increased and decreased gradually, as any extreme temperature change can damage the floor. Insulation in concrete slabs, dehumidifiers and heat transfer kits will also impact on the temperature and humidity level of your timber floor. The floor should remain at a temperature below 24°C or 75°F, no matter what type of heating is used. For this reason we recommended that any manual control units are enclosed and positioned so that only experienced people have access to them. Each time the heating is turned on it must be increased gradually. Starting at 15°C, increase the temperature by 1 to 2 degrees per day over a period of 7 days, until the required level (below 24°C) is reached. It is recommended that you reduce the temperature in the same manner. The moisture content of the floor should still remain within the acceptable range (9-13%). Should you be considering a water controlled system, it is important that the unit is controlled by the temperature of the floor, NOT the temperature of the water in the system. Experience has shown that misuse of temperature controls will prove too much for any wooden floor and will eventually lead to floor failure.

UV AND SUNLIGHT All natural products are affected by the sun. Excessive amounts of strong sunlight and UV rays will have a detrimental effect on wooden floors. It will dry out the timber and cracks may appear; in addition to this it will bleach the wood and the area may become significantly lighter. This can be greatly reduced by choosing a window glass which minimises the transmission of ultra-violet light from the sun and reduces the heat gain in a room from bright sunlight (the chemical reactions which cause materials to fade are accelerated by higher temperatures). We recommend the use of UV protection glass or having UV protection films fitted to existing windows; alternatively, you could consider UV blinds. This will not only protect your wooden floor, but also your furniture, fabrics, carpets etc.